Good Friday 2023 When Good Friday, all day-long, was prayer,When the whole town sang their grief,When everyone prayed to be embraced by the wounds of the suffering Jesus,Enveloped by the pain, keeping vigil until resurrection dawned.——————— This was how Good Friday was observed generations ago in the old town of Vigan, Ilocos Sur. Good Friday…
Category: Season: Lent
Abandoned – Francis Alvarez, SJ
Matthew 26:14 -27:66; Palm Sunday “And about three o’clock, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli,Iema sabachthani?” which mean “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Did God the father abandon Jesus on the cross? Everything I have been taught about God cries out, “No!” Just four months ago, we were singing…
Passion – Karel San Juan, SJ
John 11:45-56; Saturday of the Fifth Week of Lent Tomorrow will already be Palm Sunday, and as we know, it commences the culmination of our Lenten Season, the Holy Week. It is good that today, Saturday, we already begin to dispose our hearts and our minds for this most sacred time with God. Our Church…
Empty Jars – Arnel Aquino, SJ
John 4:5-42, Third Sunday of Lent In Jesus’ time, the village well wasn’t just a water source. It was the “singles’ bar” back in the day, if you will. Among many, shepherds, travelling merchants, and unmarried daughters stopped by the well to water their flock, get a drink, or fetch water for the house…and also,…
More! – Arnel Aquino, SJ
Matthew 4:1-11, First Sunday of Lent If we still believe that Genesis 3 is a literal story of moment number one of sin number one, how do we account for the following difficulties, like – did snakes really talk in the beginning of time? Why was the snake malicious if God created everything good? If…
Soggy Cereal – Arnel Aquino, SJ
Luke 9:22-25, Thursday after Ash Wednesday When I was on graduate studies abroad, my turn came to be community grocer. I made sure we had bread, milk, eggs, cheese, and cereals. One afternoon, an American scholastic, heavyset and hairy, waddled into the TV room where I was watching the news. Without excusing himself, he asked:…
Coin – Jett Villarin, SJ
Matthew 26:14-25, Wednesday of Holy Week Thirty pieces of silver. The price of betrayal. This is all it takes to lose our soul. All it takes to lose our hope. To this day, the silver still circulates in our midst. Especially now, as elections draw near. To this day, the fraudsters are still falling over…
Real Wealth – Arnel Aquino, SJ
Luke 15:1-32; 4th Sunday of Lent (Laetare Sunday) To us, Pinoys, it’s inconceivably brazen to ask our parents for our mana while they still live and breathe. Puwede tayong humingi ng puhunan. Puwede ring sabihin, “Dad, pautang muna po.” But never, “Ma, Pa, kunin ko na mana ko ngayon.” Subtext?“Why wait till you’re dead?” Bastos…
More than Enough – Karel San Juan, SJ
Matthew 6:7-15, Tuesday of the 1st Week of Lent Our Father. You are our Father, and we are Your children, and thus, we are brothers and sisters. Amid our many differences – in race and religion, in gender, in status in society, in everything that divides us – we are actually one, children of one…
Palms – Fr Jett Villarin, SJ
Mark 11:1-10, Palm Sunday We begin Holy Week with yet another lockdown. And so this Palm Sunday is a bit dissonant. The high notes of our hosannas are hesitant. We wave palms in tentative jubilation. We are supposed to usher Jesus like a celebrity, attaching ourselves to him and his power. We sing, hosanna in…
Rise – Mario Francisco, SJ
John 5:1-3; 5-16, Tuesday of the 4th Week of Lent It has been more than a year since the pandemic was declared, and while we have all found resilient and creative ways of coping with its effects on our lives and work, we are all experiencing quarantine fatigue. Even with the promise of the much-awaited…
Healthy AND Well – Arnel Aquino, SJ
John 3:14-21; 4th Sunday of Lent Our old infirmary used to be called, well, that, “infirmary;” – Jesus M Lucas Infirmary, to be exact. When the new one got built, it was christened with a new name: Jesuit Health & Wellness Center. I then asked our Jesuit doctor, Fr Tex Paurom, “Why health & wellness…
One Lost Sheep 